


The Wild Queen

by Kosho



Category: Dragon Age: Inquisition
Genre: Alternate Universe - Arranged Marriage, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Alternate Universe - Royalty, Dragon Age: Inquisition Spoilers, F/M, Haven (Dragon Age), Inquisition Agents (Dragon Age), Inquisitor is Royal, Not Dragon Age: Inquisition Compliant, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Other Ships Not Mentioned in Tags, Royalty, Skyhold, Skyhold is a capital, Tags Are Fun, Tags Are Hard, Tags May Change
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-01-10
Updated: 2018-12-31
Packaged: 2019-03-03 06:57:09
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,619
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13335852
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Kosho/pseuds/Kosho
Summary: Thyra Lavellan joined the Inquisition with her brother as Dalish emissaries, but while the story may seem familiar, it's anything but.-Inquisitor becomes queen.





	1. Chapter 1

The stories tell of a singular survivor of the Conclave held by Divine Justinia. That much is true. They also tell of the rise of a Queen, a Dalish woman blessed by Andraste herself. That...isn’t entirely a lie either. There’s much the tales get right, that it began with an explosion, a trip through the Fade, and a raging fire that caused a once relatively unremarkable mage, hidden away in the Inquisition ranks as a simple soldier to warm the throne of Skyhold, seat of a burgeoning country. They tell of the glorious and star-crossed marriage between this woman and the commander of her armies, all true, but they get much of it wrong too. It’s this quest to mark the truth of these stories, lest history continue to get it wrong. Jumping too far ahead would leave much in question, so instead, we must turn to the time before -- as well as during and after -- the Conclave. 

 

\-----

 

Thyra scratched at neck where her uniform itched uncomfortably, about to return her gear to the racks for the night. The commander called her name in that all too serious way he had, and she knew she was in trouble for something or other. 

 

“Lavellan. We need to talk.” he said simply, wasting no words. 

 

Grimacing, she shuffled away from the ranks of soldiers heading off to the showers or turning in for the night. She forced herself to stand up straight against the wishes of every sore, stiff muscle in her body, saluting hastily. Mages weren’t used to such heavy armor, such strict training, and nothing among her people had prepared her for how rigorously she’d be pushed to the limits just for simple exercises. 

 

“Sir.” she said. “I’m aware I made mistakes today, I’ll work twice as hard tomorrow to make up for --” 

 

He cut her off with only a look, worrying her into silence. “That’s not what I wanted to discuss with you.” 

 

Thyra bit her lip hard on the inside, enough that she was certain she tasted blood. He hated to be interrupted, and woe be the soldier under his command that did. She wasn’t keen on staying up for several more hours doing push ups and laps around the Keep. She struggled to keep even her eyebrows from raising questioningly, she’d never personally been in trouble with him, but watching others was enough of a warning for her. 

 

“As you well know, the Divine is planning to hold a gathering of sorts.” he began. 

 

“Yes, the Conclave.” she said thoughtlessly. 

 

Clapping her hands tightly over her mouth after the words left, he sighed, but said nothing about the interruption, presumably too exhausted himself with the increased time spent in training lately. 

 

“The  _ Conclave _ .” he confirmed with an edge of frustration. “Leliana suspects a possible attempt on her life, so she’s asked that we move closer to the site of the meeting in preparation. Not everyone will be going, a large number will remain here, but a substantial force of soldiers, spies and scouts will accompany us. I’ll be going, Leliana as well, Josephine and Cassandra. You’re on the list to accompany the Divine. You’ll be undercover as a mage...well...perhaps undercover is inaccurate. You’ll be there as a mage, but your function, like the others going with you, will be to watch for anything suspicious and intervene if necessary.” 

 

She anxiously raised her hand, and he sighed again, pointing to her as though he didn’t quite feel like calling on her like a schoolgirl. 

 

“May I ask, why me? I don’t believe I’ve done anything of merit to stand out…” she asked hesitantly. 

 

Cullen glanced over his shoulder for a few moments before he answered. “Leliana suggested it. We don’t have as many Templar or mage recruits as we expected, and she believes you tend to notice things others miss. You were your clan’s First, weren’t you?” 

 

“Yes. My Keeper was hesitant to send me as an emissary to the Inquisition, but I insisted. I’ve had the most contact with humans, and the best idea of what to expect coming into this.”

 

Cullen grabbed the roster from it’s safely tucked position between the shields, reviewing it quietly. “I’m given to understand you’ll be joined by your brother, you must be relieved.” 

 

Unconvinced of her safety, her Keeper sent one of the hunters ahead with her, though they’d seen precious little of each other, Leliana choosing to make use of him as a spy. She managed to read a few other names on the list before he set it back down. Herself and Arlo, Cashel and Brice Cadash, twin surface dwarves, one of which she was given to understand Varric knew, but whether it was the brother or sister, she wasn’t quite sure, only that one worked with Leliana, and the other was a scout. Connor and Dion Trevelyan, a son and daughter from Ostwick, both Templars, and that was the extent of her knowledge on the presumably brother and sister duo. The last two, she had overheard Cassandra talking about, Asek and Solek, unsure if those were nicknames or their actual names, she’d only personally seen one, both Qunari, probably Tal-Vashoth, but supposedly they came from a mercenary company that sent them off to join the Inquisition while lying low after a botched job. One was a mage, the other, one of Cullen’s other soldiers, damn good with a blade. So much muscle and mind for one meeting…

 

“I am. It’s been weeks since I’ve had a chance to speak with Arlo. Our schedules have been...conflicting, to say the least.” she said honestly. 

 

“Well, most seem to believe this is doomed to fail, they think no agreements can be reached between Templars and mages, so I don’t expect good news to follow, but if nothing else, we’ve seen to the Divine’s protection, I’m certain their shouldn’t even be any sort of altercation to merit involvement. Still, better safe than sorry, I suppose. We’ll be leaving for Haven in the morning.” he told her. 

 

“My orders for the night, sir?” she asked. 

 

“You’re free for the night. Shower, eat, whatever it is you normally do, but be sure to get a good night’s rest. It’s a long trip, and we’ll be there for awhile.” he replied. “Dismissed.” 

 

Thyra saluted again, discreetly sniffing her uniform to check. Not bad enough to make skipping out on a shower for the night a bad idea, at least. The idea of a hot shower to soothe her aches and pains sounded quite appealing, but honestly, the relative comfort of the barracks sounded better at the moment. Haven was indeed a long journey, might even take a few days if the fighting was bad between Skyhold and there… They should arrive with time to spare before the Conclave began, at least. Not that she thought there’d be time for anything other than training, that was usually the way of it, though no one could say if they’d face any threat other than the occasional Orlesian paper threat. That was how the country actually began, King Alistair didn’t necessarily have a problem offering up the large portion of land on the Fereldan side at the Divine’s request, but the Orlesians fought for it, tried to wage a small scale war against them. 

 

Apparently they believed the request from the Divine to be false, and it wasn’t until Empress Celene demanded an end to the fighting and ceded the land to the Inquisition as a gesture of apology that they had gained a significant bit of land in Orlais to round out the territory. The politics of the matter escaped her, but then, it was never her area of expertise, although she was confident she could probably navigate any stretch of forest from here to the Marches more easily than anyone else. Dragging herself towards the siren call of her lumpy bed, and the varied snuffles and snores of the other recruits, she allowed herself just a moment to wonder if perhaps the commander had better accommodations. Not particularly that she was interested in him  _ or _ his bed, but it was a curiosity to know whether or not his high rank afforded him such luxury. 

 

She’d never complain, not when she’d spent a decent amount of time sleeping in the dirt when her lessons lulled her into a full stupor and she’d doze off, to her Keeper’s chagrin. She’d seen Haven on the map of course, tiny little clod of dirt disguised as a village very nearly in the middle of nowhere, it was well within the countries borders, but some shitty noble claimed he had ownership, and they’d not bothered to dispute it just yet, probably because it wasn’t truly worth fighting over. It was said to be plentiful in iron, but iron was common and they could get plenty of it elsewhere. That meant it really wasn’t much use as a point of resources, and the smaller space wasn’t conducive to bringing large amounts of people there, when there were already a likely large number of villagers as it was. Thyra lowered herself into bed with a tired roll, staring up at the ceiling. Coming here had been enough of a culture shock, humans everywhere, more than she had estimated, and then dwarves, and even Qunari to be found among the ranks. 

 

It was an institution began and ran in line with the Chantry, something she couldn’t really bring herself to understand, let alone follow. Where most happily stood and listened to the clerics and their funny words, she held firmly to her belief in the Creators, kept to her ways, and did her best to make sure she wasn’t a disappointment to her clan. Serving a holy cause, and now having to play bodyguard to the figurehead of the entire religion? It was strange and a little bit unsettling, like she was slowly being roped further into a cause that wasn’t truly hers. Incidentally, it was Leliana who had reached out to her Keeper and asked if she could send someone as a personal favor, some sort of storied history that she was never aware of. In truth, her decision to volunteer herself was entirely out of curiosity, and less about feeling qualified for it. A sound called her thoughts back to the dark room, barely making out two figures at the opposite end of the room. No surprise there, those two often found time for each other. 

 

Relationships were complicated, and ones like these? Probably pointless. Among her people, no one cared who you fooled around with, though it was always stressed that it was important to boost numbers, as theirs was a dwindling race. In her mind, that meant two things, one, that anyone but an elf was definitely off limits, no sense mucking about with feelings if it couldn’t go anywhere. Two, that regardless, to do her part for the cause meant settling down with a worthy man and doing what she could to help her people. Thyra reasoned it would probably be a while before that was an actual concern for her. So far, aside from Arlo, the only other elf here was Solas, an apostate that didn’t particularly look either like he was Dalish or a city elf, but something else entirely. Still, it seemed rude to point that out, and while what little contact she’d had with him, he seemed polite, quiet, thoughtful, but he wasn’t exactly catching her personal interest. At least the men back home were people she knew, those she’d grown up with. All in all, bringing back a chantry-following elf might be just as bad as if she’d tried to come home with a human on her arm. 

 

“Oi. You there.” someone hissed quietly.

“Me?” she asked curiously. 

 

“Yeah, you. Could you maybe prod at that bloke? I’m surprised you can think with all that racket.” he muttered. 

 

Thyra glanced across from her, reaching out to try and poke the man into silence. It seemed to work, oddly enough. 

 

“He does that sometimes. Usually works to shut ‘im up.” he grunted. “Anyway, guess we’re setting off early. Best to rest while we can.” 

 

It echoed Cullen’s sentiment expertly, mentally reminding her to shut her mind up and turn in before night turned to morning and she was dead on her feet for the long trek to the middle of nowhere. She really had to ask how much trouble they were really expecting to bring along so many people for what he claimed was just a simple gathering. Resolution or not, that just seemed like overdoing matters to bring such a substantial guard. As far as anyone had told her, the Divine was well liked, and she assumed that meant no one would bother to try to harm someone they liked and respected, just a soldier or two would have been sufficient if that was the case. She didn’t have to be a spy to realize something about the entire situation was off. She jerked her blanket up over her shoulders, smacking her head into the pillow, sighing quietly. Sleeping on her problems usually provided her with time to consider matters more carefully, maybe it would make more sense in the morning.


	2. Chapter 2

“Are they treating you alright?” Arlo asked. 

 

Thyra glanced up from making the bed. Haven was small, and one of the privileges she got from being in the first line of defense here was a room, meant to be all to herself. Unfortunately, the amount of space and the amount of people they had to put up were far from enough, and so her and her brother ended up rooming together. At least it was her understanding that the others had to share as well. 

 

“Better than I expected, at least. Are you alright? They made you a spy, right? It’s dangerous out there. I worry.” Thyra sighed.

 

“I’m fine.” he said with a shrug. “We rarely engage in conflict, your job is actually more dangerous.” 

 

“I’m not even a soldier!” she finally complained. “Something about some of his men are Templars, or at least former, and they don’t have a place for mages at present.” 

 

“They need you. You’re not going to stand out as much.” Arlo said. 

 

“So I’m important because I’m so forgettable. Somehow I should have expected that.” She muttered.

 

Rolling somehow in midair, she fell back into bed, her nose wrinkling like she had just realized the beds were barely much better than the kind they already slept in. Before he had time to tease her about the look on her face, the door swung open and two Dwarves wandered in. Thyra glanced between them curiously, looking to her brother for some sort of input on the strange situation.

 

“Right. Cashel and Brice. We’ve been working together a bit lately.” He explained to her. “This is my sister.”

 

“Thyra.” She added. 

 

“She in?” the one she figured must have been Brice asked. He looked like a Brice, maybe a little bit. “Or haven’t you even asked yet?”

 

“In?” she questioned curiously. 

 

Arlo sighed heavily. He meant to leave her out of it entirely, but now that they’d said something, she wasn’t the type to let it go unless she knew first. 

 

“We’re thinking of skipping out.” Arlo admitted. 

 

“Why? We were sent to help out, and this is what we’re supposed to do. There’s some sort of possible attack, isn’t there?” she asked.

 

“Sod it.” the second dwarf said. “It’s all just paranoia. Ain’t no one fool enough to attack at such a publicized event.” 

 

“One of the oxmen is cutting out with us, not sure about the other.” the first added.

 

“I won’t say anything, but I can’t just ditch my duties like that…” she said uncertainly.

 

“She’s not exactly sneaky.” Arlo explained.

 

“It isn’t that...the Commander will have me running laps from now until the next age if I mess up. It’s hard enough to remember that there’s protocol to follow. I heard someone say they came from a circle here and it wasn’t half as scary as dealing with him.” she muttered. 

 

“Well...in that case, guess we’ll see you later. We got a few people left to ask. If you change your mind, we got our hands on this Chasind stuff that’s supposed to be pretty good. No thanks to the delay getting here, we ran low on time to ask around.” the first dwarf said.

 

The telltale clank of heavy armor grew closer down the path, and Arlo sat straight up. “Actually, I’ll leave setting up to you, I’m going to go with them. I’ll be back.” 

 

The trio took off moments before the sound reached the front door. Thyra wordlessly mouth a prayer for strength before she got up to answer the door. She already knew exactly who it was, and no doubt she had a good idea of what he needed. Still, for even her brother to bail on her at that precise moment felt particularly like a betrayal of sorts, but she could understand it. Cullen Rutherford wasn’t the sort of man who seemed anything less than serious at all times, and they could probably sense that much. 

 

“Lavellan.” He said by way of greeting. He paused for a few moments, glancing around the room. The bed was made two bags set in the middle of the room, one he was sure was hers, the other mostly likely her brother’s. It certainly looked nicer than the mess most had already made of their quarters. “I have a rough schedule for you.” 

 

He handed the frayed parchment over, looking it over. Most of it was normally reserved for training, occasionally they’d accompany the more seasoned guards to learn how to do the rotations, and then there were short breaks for things like dinner, or if there was a meeting he was required to attend that called him away. This schedule seemed wrong, there was only one brief training session some time before dinner, then some free time before bed. 

 

“This seems empty…” she said finally. 

 

Thyra held it out to him, and he took it back long enough to look it over again before he handed it back, shaking his head. 

 

“No, that’s right.” he confirmed. “We’re severely behind schedule on our arrival, there’s not a lot of time to prepare for this, and I thought it best to focus on making sure everyone is physically in the right shape, just in case.” 

 

She bit her lip in the way he was discovering she did when she really wanted to say something, or ask a question, but she wasn’t planning to blurt it out. She slipped from time to time, but for the most part, it was sort of refreshing that at least she understood that everything typically went smoother with fewer interruptions. He nodded, crossing his arms loosely over his chest.

 

“I...heard a rumor that this might be unnecessary. I know we’re not supposed to listen, but...I want to know what you think. Is there a real threat?” she asked anxiously.

 

Cullen sighed, finally shaking his head. “Personally? I’m not sure. Leliana’s intel is rarely wrong, and if she says there’s a reason to be here, there might be, but if I’m being honest? I haven’t seen any cause to believe there’s a problem. All the same, pretend there definitely is and be on your guard. I may not be absolutely sure that anything will happen, but it’s better to be prepared for danger than it is to scramble when it shows up.” 

 

Thyra hadn’t actually lent abandoning her duties any thought, not when the word was the punishment wouldn’t be anywhere near enough to ignore. Then again, she really didn’t know much about the Divine other than what they’d briefed her on. An older human woman, that Seeker Pentaghast and Sister Leliana served her or used to perhaps? It seemed a silly thing to ask if she was capable of protecting herself in some way. She’d been told mages weren’t allowed to serve in the chantry, so that was out, but perhaps she once had a history of fighting bandits or something and perhaps knew her way around a sword?

 

“I do want to add that you’ll be training tonight with Bann Trevelyan’s children. I’ve given them orders that this is just for practice, however I’m aware Dion has a bit of a problem listening. If anything happens, make sure to tell me.” he said. 

 

“Yes, sir.” she said, hastily saluting. “May I ask why?

 

“After some discussion about the specifics, it was thought pairing you with Templars would be a good option. At a time like this, distrust for mages is very high, and since you’ll be there as a mage, others will feel more comfortable. It’s my hope the three of you will be able to do this without a problem.” he said. “Anyway, I have others to see yet, you have your orders, do follow them.” 

 

Thyra waited until he left to lay down again, choosing to focus on the roof. Working with Templars. Always seemed like it came to that, at least it did here. To go from never having met one, but being warned about them to being pushed right in the middle of it all, to be working so closely to so many still made her heart race anxiously, like she should be watching her back a little more. Maybe these two would be at least a little more friendly than some of the others were. So far, nothing bad had really happened, but she wasn’t ready to write home about it just yet. 


End file.
